We talk a lot about independent repair facilities and the ratio of women to men employed in them, but I was curious to find out what this looks like on a larger scale. I sat down with Amanda Fink-Swim from Certified Transmission, one of the largest reman facilities in the U.S. which also includes transmission retail facilities. Amanda lives a busy life in Omaha, Nebraska with her husband, Brian, and 5 children – James, Penelope, JoJo, Parker, and Lily.
We met through our participation in Amazing Women in Automotive and have spoken many times about our passion for women in the industry, so I knew she’d be the perfect person to visit with, especially given she has held several positions in the company during her time at Certified.
In 1979, 19-year-old Peter Fink, Amanda’s father, leased a 2-bay gas station, and opened a 1-man automotive shop. “It’s kind of funny now,” Amanda shares, “but at that time my dad hated transmissions!” She adds that he ended up going to a trade school in Wichita and had a teacher who had an enthusiasm for transmissions and this instructor became Peter’s mentor, playing a huge role in his career path.
As a result of Peter’s experience and the impact his mentor had on his life, Certified Transmission has been a big advocate for tech schools and training young graduates. Their list of employees currently includes several women, for instance retail facility manager Chelsea, 2 service advisors Tiffany and Shelby, transmission builder April, and dyno tech Jamie. Quite often, women don’t consider careers in automotive because they don’t realize the many career paths available to them within the field. Today we’re talking about several of them, starting with the positions Amanda personally held.
Amanda started out at Certified as a part-time wholesale rep. She laughed, commenting that she wasn’t great at it, at least at first. She says she really liked it, especially bringing goodies, Gatorade, and pizza to their customers, but she was better at building relationships than selling. She met many wonderful people who she still knows today. Given her talents, she became a service advisor for about 3 years, then started filling in for managers on occasion, when they’d vacation and such.
After Amanda’s son James was born, she took the regional manager position full time and has been there for 10 years and counting! She oversees the 6 Nebraska & Iowa locations of Certified’s 14 retail shops. While serving as District Manager, Amanda hired a young women named Chelsea McDonald. Certified needed a front counter assistant at their longest-standing retail shop. Chelsea knew a team member on the reman division who referred her to their company. Chelsea had previous experience in the healthcare field, and she showed many of the skills and talents needed in customer service. Her bubbly personality and confidence really set her apart. She had no auto experience, but Amanda gave her a shot and she was hired in July of 2020.
It was quickly obvious that Chelsea’s talents far exceeded what was required for her current position, so she was moved to full time service advisor in December of that same year. She excelled there as well, so when the store manager position came open at the Bellevue location in July of 2021, Amanda said she was an obvious choice.
The previous manager for the shop was doing an excellent job but even with that, Chelsea was able to increase revenue. She brought in so much additional business the shop doubled the number of staff, from 3 to 6, adding 2 more techs and an additional advisor to keep up.
When Chelsea started, Amanda said she was slightly nervous. Like most people who come to auto repair without an auto repair background, they’re afraid they won’t know enough about cars to do the job. “In most cases, you don’t need a great amount of technical background,” Amanda shared, “You just need to be able to communicate with your customer.”
In Amanda’s experience, the employees at the shops are respectful and encouraging of women coming into the industry, and most customers seem to be the same way. There are still the occasional times where a customer may be surprised or caught off guard with a female shop manager or district manager. A female needs more confidence and determination to overcome the public’s perception of women in automotive. There is still that underlying thought that men know more about cars, and women must work to overcome this.
I must agree with Amanda. You’d be surprised the number of times I have been at the counter training a newly hired male service writer, and a customer will walk up and immediately make eye contact with the new guy. They don’t know I’m one of the owners, but once the conversation proceeds it becomes apparent to them that they can trust me to take care of them through their service experience.
Amanda expanded, “There are many roles outside of the shop where women do well.” Nicole, Amanda’s corporate support specialist, is literally her right hand. Some might call her an assistant, but that title devalues all she truly does for the company. She provides 1 on 1 training, helps with processes and procedures, writes SOP’s, and heads up their employee appreciation among countless other things.
Certified’s female dyno tech, and female builder, have both been featured in their own GEARS Magazine profiles. Certified has also added a couple of ladies in the solenoid testing department. The possibilities really are endless, including marketing, accounting, and more.
Amanda is a shining example of how well a woman with skills and drive can do in the automotive industry. She and her team at Certified lead by example, supporting women by hiring those who want an opportunity to prove themselves and really make a difference.
There are so many options for women in the auto industry, which is why AWiA’s focused recruitment of female talent has become so important. The opportunity is not always apparent to them, so we must put ourselves in front of them.
If you are a woman that would like to participate in AWiA or you have an amazing woman builder, or technician at your shop with a special story, please feel free to contact me at Tiffany@AmazingWiA.com.
